The Man Booker Prize has become an institution. This years winner, Hilary Mantel, has seen her (brilliant) Wolf Hall jump into the stratosphere sales-wise when compared to her back catalogue. Wolf Hall is as good as all her other books, which won critical acclaim, but they didn't put a sports car on the drive*. The big difference is of course winning.

Early in the history of the Booker Prize, the rules changed. In 1971, eligibility changed to depend on publication that year, and the prize moved to the end of the year to accommodate the rule change. That orphaned a bunch of books published in 1970 that could never have been considered due to these changes.

The Lost Man Booker Prize is a brilliant idea to fix this. The long list was great, the shortlist contains six out of six books that I now really want to read.

Guess what - none of them are available in eBook format! I can feel the total lack of shock rippling around the forum, but the volume of missing back catalogue is shocking. There are some fantastic books that we desperately need to become available again. I know I am preaching to the converted, but as Apple, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Waterstones et al gear up to bombarding us with competing versions of the latest blockbusters, I find it distressing.

For anyone that still reads pBooks, The Lost Man Booker Prize link is here:

* I have no idea whether Hilary Mantel covets a sports car, had one already, intends to purchase one, or can even drive. She's done very well with Wolf Hall though, and hopefully she's spent some of the well deserved loot on something fun

It's the 40th anniversary of my birth this year. There's something about this Lost Booker Prize that appeals to me, so, ebook or no, I'm going to buy myself a birthday present of the shortlist (besides, I've been meaning to buy a Patrick White book for some time).

To answer your question about Hilary Mantel and sports cars.... please be assured that Miss Mantel does not possess (and never has had) a driving licence. She is driven around the various literary festivals in the UK by her husband Gerald in a very sensible Volvo S80 sedan.

Actually Patrick White's The Vivisector is, at least, available for the Kindle - I noticed that the other day. I'm crossing my fingers that being put on the shortlist will have some of the other publishers move forward as well, I noticed that happened a lot with last year's list (although since I always try to read them before the judging, I end up having to get about half in paper anyway)

I've been lurking the boards here for a while, but now felt the need to tell the world that while I wouldn't say that I have a favourite book, if my life depended on being able to name a favourite author, it would be Patrick White, and if I had to pick a favourite book from White, it would be The Vivisector. So, I'm glad to see it nominated.

Hi there, letting you know that NYRB Classics, which publishes the Lost Booker winnerTroubles, in the US, is working toward getting the ebook into stores. We actually had it scheduled a bit down the road, but we'd like to make sure it's up and available to the public as soon as possible.

We also publish Patrick White's Riders in the Chariot (though, it's true, not as an ebook). We have a tiny staff and a lot of ebook conversions to get to, but we're in the process.

Also, JG Farrell's Siege of Krishnapur (which won the Booker prize in 1973) will be available as an ebook in early June. Thanks for your patience everybody!

Apologies for the promotional nature of this post, but since someone else started the conversation, thought it would be worth filling you all in (and defending ourselves!)

Last edited by sjkramer; 05-20-2010 at 05:14 PM.
Reason: apology of self promotion!